20070823 WMAR TV Archives full of historic gems by K Volkmann BE

WMAR TV archives in the basement of University of Baltimore’s Langsdale Library full of historic gems by K Volkmann

This is an exciting turn of events. WMAR TV has been around for a long time and to have historic film footage available from all those years available would be an historians dream.

Archives full of historic gems

Kelsey Volkmann, The Examiner 2007-08-23

BALTIMORE –

… old television news reels in the basement of University of Baltimore’s Langsdale Library.

[…]

Metal film canisters and videotapes line shelf after shelf and contain old WMAR-TV footage, images showcasing history as it happened from the post-World War II era through the Reagan administration.

The collection is considered one of the most complete archives of television news on the East Coast.

But most filmmakers can’t afford to transfer the 16-millimeter film into digital video and the equipment to play some of the tapes is difficult to find, leaving the footage as it has been for decades rarely watched and left to collect dust.

The 6 million feet of unedited news reels contain hidden gems:

[…]

University of Baltimore has applied for a $356,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities to finance a digitization of the films for storage on computer servers.

Library directors will learn this spring whether they won the grant.

[…]

Read the entire article here: Archives full of historic gems